In Depth

In Depth

• Internet: companies must act now to secure a place in the cyberspace of the European Union

  Whether you are an IT director, CIO, web manager or marketing representative for your company, you cannot afford to ignore the launch of the .eu top-level domain on 7 December.  Continue Reading

• Storage technologies mature to compete for business on speed, scalability and cost

  How do the leading storage area networking technologies measure up?  Continue Reading

• UniChem aims to boost customer service by supply system roll-out

  Alliance UniChem is rolling out a replenishment system to eight European countries after successfully deploying the software in the UK.  Continue Reading

• Global services company slashes number of servers with state-of-the-art datacentre

  Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a global provider of HR and financial services, has gone live with a state-of-the-art European datacentre at an ex-Ministry of Defence site 40 miles north of London.  Continue Reading

• Law firm moves from Netware to Windows

  Law firm Olswang has completed its migration from Novell's Netware to a Windows 2003 back-end environment with Windows XP desktop PCs.  Continue Reading

• How to build practical applications of grid computing in a business environment

  The level of understanding of grid computing as an idea has matured to the level where users are now able to understand the different types of grid computing that are available to them.  Continue Reading

• Positive Solutions gets IT Direction; with no IT Director

  IT is so central to Positive Solutions, it has helped the financial services firm “wipe the floor” with its competitors. And it was done without an official IT director  Continue Reading

• Spyware Learning Guide

  This guide is a compilation of resources that explain what spyware is, how it attacks and most importantly what you can to do to win the war on spyware.  Continue Reading

• Expense ahead with next-generation ERP

  Oracle and SAP are working on new architectures that are more responsive to business change, but there will be costs, and benefits will not be immediate.  Continue Reading

• Building trust with great communication

  IT will never be seen as a valued strategic business partner unless it can communicate its value to the business. But all too often, corporate IT fails to pay sufficient attention to the importance of communication within business.  Continue Reading

• Security: Businesses urged to shift growing burden of security back onto software suppliers

  US security body the Sans Institute has urged businesses and governments to use their purchasing power to persuade IT suppliers to lock down the security of their software applications.  Continue Reading

• Debenhams offers flexible access via VPN with two-factor security

  Debenhams has implemented an identity management system and virtual private network technology to provide flexible access to its internal IT systems.  Continue Reading

• Voice-enabled order picking app boosts productivity at wholesaler

  Grocery wholesaler James Hall & Co is to roll out the Accord Voice Picking system from supply chain software firm BCP across its entire warehouse operation.  Continue Reading

• IT rises to the challenge of standardisation of ERP as Mittal goes on a buying spree

  Author Spencer Johnson may have encouraged business managers to ask, "Who moved my cheese?" but for Leon Schumacher, chief information officer at the world's largest steel maker, the question is more like, "Who continually moves my massive and ...  Continue Reading

• Portman gets the message with unified comms

  Portman Building Society has deployed a unified messaging system with speech-control capabilities to improve productivity at its head office, customer service centre and across its 114-strong branch network.  Continue Reading

• How does your IT really stack up?

  Author Henry Miller was ahead of his time when he said that in life's ledger, there is no such thing as frozen assets.  Continue Reading

• Berners-Lee to star in debate on the future of the World Wide Web

  The annual World Wide Web Conference in Edinburgh from 23 to 26 May is set to be one of the most far-reaching IT events in the UK next year.  Continue Reading

• Riding high with real time winners

  When Aussie Shane Warne dropped England batsman Kevin Pietersen on 15 in the deciding Test Match at the Oval, it was not just a moment of high drama in English cricket. In a back office in Hammersmith, a system was crunching 12,000 transactions a ...  Continue Reading

• EMI goes global with SAP to meet demand for real-time transactions

  Music company EMI is rolling out a single SAP enterprise resource planning platform across its worldwide operations, following a successful implementation in the UK.  Continue Reading

• Barnet boosts efficiency by outsourcing document processing in revenues office

  The revenues department at Barnet Council in London has improved the speed and efficiency of its document handling by using a managed document processing service.  Continue Reading

• Speedier mortgages via .net system

  Countrywide Surveyors is due in December to deploy a web service built on Microsoft's .net platform which links directly to mortgage lenders' IT systems to streamline mortgage applications.  Continue Reading

• Downtime: Photocopiers stand by for seasonal crackdown

  Photocopiers stand by for seasonal crackdown  Continue Reading

• Making your security fit

  There is no doubt that network security keeps IT directors awake at night. And it doesn't look like restful slumber is getting any closer.  Continue Reading

• Programming, not planning, is the key to success

  Companies should manage rather than plan their business continuity  Continue Reading

• Coping with the domino effect of disaster

  Oxfam is no stranger to picking up the pieces, but last year's tsunami posed the agency's biggest challenge and highlighted the need to keep business continuity simple  Continue Reading

• Leaked e-mails emphasise divide between business goals and technology in NHS plan

  Could separation threaten the success of £6.2bn IT-led modernisation project?  Continue Reading

• Dynamics mobile sales system adds weight to Microsoft's push to be viable ERP option

  In advance of the eagerly awaited Microsoft Dynamics AX version 4.0 release in 2006, Microsoft's Business Solutions group has unveiled another addition to the extended Dynamics AX enterprise software family. The company and its partners have turned ...  Continue Reading

• Security: Freedom to enter but no right to roam

  How will ITdirectors in businesses that span European borders adapt as corporate security evolves from a closed fortress approach to an open door policy?  Continue Reading

• Scottish councils adopt joint performance management system to meet service levels

  A group of 10 Scottish councils has implemented a joint performance management system within six months, helping them to meet service standards set nationally.  Continue Reading

• European securities legislation to increase CIOs' personal compliance accountability

  Far reaching financial regulations to further complicate business management.  Continue Reading

• MP tables modernisation of Computer Misuse Act

  In summer 2003, the then e-crime minister Caroline Flint promised to answer growing disquiet about Britain's computer crime laws by strengthening the Computer Misuse Act.  Continue Reading

• IT rises up the agenda in company mergers

  Mergers and acquisitions: Many critical business processes are now supported by IT, and technology issues need to be understood by both sides if a merger is to be successful  Continue Reading

• Easy and efficient patching all comes down to having the right management software

  If cars were sold in the same way as software, you would have to hook your Mondeo to the internet and download the latest code update before you left the garage.  Continue Reading

• Your shout: bird flu warning, IT placements and scientists

  Computer Weekly readers have their say  Continue Reading

• McDonald's cuts inspection report times as PDA-based system goes on global menu

  McDonald's is to implement a mobile inspection system for its restaurants around the world following a successful roll-out in the UK.  Continue Reading

• Salary survey: constant demand drives salaries

  The IT jobs market is enjoying a period of unparalleled stability with the number of jobs advertised on the web virtually the same in each of the past four quarters in both the permanent and contract markets. This is the finding from the October ...  Continue Reading

• How effective training aids staff retention

  More than any other profession, IT requires its practitioners to undergo reskilling throughout their careers. IT is so broad, and its rate of change so rapid, that continually expanding and updating skills is an essential part of being an IT ...  Continue Reading

• Hewden to overhaul its IT and business processes in £15m project

  Plant and tool hire company Hewden plans a £15m IT and business process transformation project to better serve its customers' needs and reduce costs.  Continue Reading

• Understand directory services to maintain control of network information and users

  Directory services are software programs that link directly into core databases to manage the identities and security of users on a network. They are crucial to many medium and large organisations.  Continue Reading

• Continuity plan prevents human tragedy becoming business disaster at the BMA

  Business continuity planning covers a vast territory, from the normal type of disruption that can affect any IT installation, to the most terrifyingly abnormal disruption caused by terrorism or natural disaster.  Continue Reading

• Compliance is the key to electronic archive

  St Peter's Trust, which handles trust and company administration from Guernsey, has deployed an electronic content management system to limit its reliance on paper documents and improve document retrieval and security.  Continue Reading

• Fighting the new breed of security threat

  The digitisation of virtually all of the modern business' intellectual property puts us in a situation where we are vulnerable to a new breed of security threat.  Continue Reading

• Balancing the benefits and drawbacks of leasing IT infrastructure is essential

  Companies use leasing as a means of acquiring business items for everything from photocopiers to cars. Some firms remain sceptical, however, about the benefits of leasing their PCs. Now the options are even greater - you can lease not only your ...  Continue Reading

• Microsoft and Symantec - between the lines

  What's really behind the "row" between Microsoft and Symantec ?  Continue Reading

• Protect your data, protect yourself

  Do you know the full legality around storage and disclosure of data? Ian Tranter most certainly does  Continue Reading

• IT security risk assessment in the real world

  Without an accurate estimation of risk you may be putting your company's resources into protecting the wrong things.  Continue Reading

• Advice: Top 10 IT success strategies for SMBs

  In his new book, IT is about the strategy, Richard Skinner offers strategic and tactical guidance for IT departments at small and medium-sized businesses. Here are 10 steps, based on his book, that will help IT managers face the challenges of...  Continue Reading

• Security in the field

  With a one-man IT band and festivals in the fields, the Mean Fiddler needed an easy to manage and flexible solution to network security. Helen Beckett reports  Continue Reading

• Security: Play by the rules

  Complying with the current raft of legislation could not only minimise business risk, it could also save money. Lindsay Clark finds out how regulation affects network security  Continue Reading

• Network security: The moving target

  Defending a clear network perimeter is becoming increasingly difficult. John Kavanagh examines new approaches to the problems of shifting boundaries  Continue Reading

• Security: Sentinel at the gate

  An intrusion prevention system can identify and remove risky traffic before it can do harm. In this case study, Helen Beckett finds out how it works in practice for Toyota  Continue Reading

• Continuity: What to do if it starts going pear-shaped

  A combination of a number of unexpected events led to a business continuity nightmare for the London Stock Exchange. Here its IT director shares the lessons learnt  Continue Reading

• Development: Don't let the software bugs bite

  Error-strewn programs can hamper IT's ability to enhance business efficiency. Cliff Saran explains how team tools, agile methods and automation can help IT departments provide what end-users really need  Continue Reading

• Hot skills: Growing international adoption proves credibility of PostgreSQL

  Database offers a feature-rich open source alternative  Continue Reading

• IT industry has best opportunity yet to establish itself as a profession, says BCS

  IT is in its best position ever to get established as a profession - and it must be a profession that looks beyond technical excellence to include business impact, according to new BCS president Charles Hughes.  Continue Reading

• Commission for Rural Communities rolls out hosted mobile system for field staff

  Countryside Agency replacement to provide remote mobile access  Continue Reading

• Automation is key to e-mail compliance

  Companies may stand or fall based on their policies to manage e-mails and the problems they can bring with them. Success starts with the right software tools  Continue Reading

• Has SQL Server 2005 been worth the wait?

  After five years of waiting, users will finally get their hands on a completely new version of Microsoft's database product when SQL Server 2005 and a new database management system (DBMS) are released next week.  Continue Reading

• Rise of the data security tsar

  When an issue becomes so grave that it threatens the national way of life, a "tsar" is ushered in by the prime minister to fix it. Something similar is happening in the corporate world, where security bouncers are being appointed to ensure the ...  Continue Reading

• Now is the time to be in IT security, but experience and qualifications are vital

  Today's IT security jobs market is rather like the IT jobs scene 30 years ago. On the plus side there is big demand, so the pay is good. But there is the old IT vicious circle of no experience means no job, and the challenge of trying to justify ...  Continue Reading

• MySQL database skills cheap to maintain but pay less than Oracle

  MySQL is an open source relational database management system that is widely used for web applications and embedded applications.  Continue Reading

• Nine principles that are the cornerstone of successful outsourcing relationships

  A constructive relationship between client and supplier is crucial for the delivery of the benefits of outsourcing - and such relationships do not happen automatically.  Continue Reading

• Tuning in to wireless returns

  The Computer Weekly/BT survey has revealed the widespread adoption of wireless technology among large organisations.  Continue Reading

• What price storage?

  The spread of networked storage, and the increasing willingness of firms to consider using third parties to help them manage their storage requirements, may mean the days of a single-location datacentre, managed only by internal staff, are numbered.  Continue Reading

• It's all very well to talk about VoIP, but the big issue is whether your network can cope

  Using an Internet Protocol-based network for voice communications is a sure way to reduce IT infrastructure costs. But the age and functionality of your telephone and network infrastructure, and what you intend to do with business processes in the ...  Continue Reading

• Eight steps to hiring an SMB IT consultant

  As your business grows, your information systems can become stretched to the limit. Hiring an IT consultant to keep your systems on track or up to date can help solve your problems, as long as you hire the right one. The range of expertise and cost ...  Continue Reading

• An effective application stack is vital for large-scale RFID systems, warn analysts

  IT managers must have an effective application stack for their radio frequency identification (RFID) implementations to be successful, according to research from Butler Group.  Continue Reading

• Manual processes must be automated to cut cost of Sarbanes-Oxley audits, says Basda

  When Phillip Bennett, head of the US-based hedge fund giant Refco, was suspended earlier this month after his company announced a £240m accounting irregularity, it was a wake-up call to everyone involved in corporate compliance.  Continue Reading

• Upcoming events will take senior IT staff far and wide... and afloat

  The year may be drawing to a close, but there is a flurry of major events over the next two to three weeks to attract senior IT directors and managers away from their desks, not only in the UK but further afield in Europe.  Continue Reading

• Multiple systems, poor training and bad memories all part of the job at Jobcentre

  Neck ties, safety screens and sex toys have all dogged the government's initiative to help people look for jobs while they are claiming benefits. But it is the computer system that is supposed to support the scheme that is proving the greatest ...  Continue Reading

• Time to benefit from clocking IT's hours

  Time recording IT directors reveal how they have used time recording systems to identify inefficiencies, boost IT's image among users and justify additional funding  Continue Reading

• Could users find themselves locked in by enterprise application infrastructure war?

  As middleware suppliers Oracle and SAP develop their plans to roll out application architectures, IT directors could be left wondering where that leaves their investment in third-party application server technologies from the likes of IBM and BEA.  Continue Reading

• A problem shared: help desk support

  The software supplier's support person was quietly handling a system upgrade in the corner when the screaming started. A raised voice became louder and increasingly aggressive until it reached full volume, at which point it was punctuated by the ...  Continue Reading

• Time is money: choosing a charging method for IT services

  Time recording can enable more accurate charging for IT services, but there is no single best practice when it comes to charging business users for the IT they use, said Barbara Gomolski, research vice-president at analyst firm Gartner.  Continue Reading

• Sheffield project management platform drives £1bn council homes renovation

  An organisation set up by Sheffield City Council is using project management software to help it manage a £1bn investment programme in 55,000 council-owned houses.  Continue Reading

• Parallel processing has a revival

  Interest in parallel processing is being revived by developments in related fields, which are taking it more into commercial applications, according to the relaunched BCS Parallel Processing Specialist Group.  Continue Reading

• Sticky fingers could scupper UK ID card biometrics, warn experts

  Eating crisps could be enough to have a fingerprint reading rejected by the UK's proposed national identity card scheme. This was one of several concerns about the planned use of biometrics that emerged from a recent BCS debate.  Continue Reading

• Senior staff need retraining to succeed in changing IT environment, says Forrester

  Experienced IT professionals who are transferred to an outsourcing provider will need technical retraining, according to a report published by analyst firm Forrester last week.  Continue Reading

• Next move: How do I become a systems analyst?

  The question: How do I become a systems analyst?  Continue Reading

• New IT degree aims to bridge gap

  Four UK universities have launched a degree course that combines IT, business and communication in a move backed by companies including Ford, Morgan Stanley and Norwich Union.  Continue Reading

• Lamp open platform lights the way to web development work

  Open source platform lets developers mix and match  Continue Reading

• Inspirational leadership can boost morale and productivity

  An inspirational IT director can make all the difference when it comes to having an IT department that is a best place to work, says John Leighfield, president of professional association the Institute for the Management of Information Systems and a...  Continue Reading

• Mobile IT: Leading the cultural revolution

  With many staff out in the field, local authorities are at the forefront of the move to mobile IT. And for the technology to pay off, staff must understand that old ways of working are gone for good. Lindsay Clark reports  Continue Reading

• Storage: How to cut back complexity

  Jessica Twentyman reports on how infrastructure consultancy Halcrow took the fast track to bringing vast quantities of complex data under control.  Continue Reading

• One-stop storage

  Storage is dead. Viva information lifecycle management. Antony Adshead examines the changing market and how users should react  Continue Reading

• What's in store?

  Users stand to gain efficiencies from new storage networking standards. Arif Mohamed guides you through the acronym minefield and explains the benefits to users  Continue Reading

• Who is winning the power game?

  Demand for ever-greater computing capacity is leading to spiralling - and costly - power consumption. Danny Bradbury looks at the best ways to cut costs and boost efficiency  Continue Reading

• Moving to an outsourcer can mean a chance to advance, but check the small print first

  Find out the pluses and minuses of joining an IT services company  Continue Reading

• SMS and IM boost collaborative working

  Smart staff are saving time at work by using SMS, instant messaging and blogs to communicate and share information – but they could be putting company data at risk  Continue Reading

• Technology innovators receive accolades

  This year's BCS IT professional award winners range from a door-to-door blinds retailer using smartphone technology to an effective online rail booking service  Continue Reading

• Next move: How do I become a software developer?

  Having worked in IT for the past six years in a support role I would now like to move into software development. Sould I learrn .net or Java programming?  Continue Reading

• Do you operate in a winning workplace?

  Nominate your firm for Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT awards  Continue Reading

• Contractors to gain career boost with fast-track professional deal

  IT staff who are members of the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) are being offered a fast track to recognised professional status following a deal with the BCS.  Continue Reading

• Linux players back LSB standards initiative to improve compatibility

  The open source community is collaborating on a set of binary standards that will increase compatibility among Linux systems, through a project called Linux Standard Base (LSB).  Continue Reading

• JSP opens dynamic web page design to the non-Java experts

  Removal of logic and a simple language cuts need for code  Continue Reading

• Everything in store

  Storage Expo is custom-built to address the topics that matter most to end-users  Continue Reading

• Confront compliance

  Richard Hall explains how a financial software company is getting a grip on years of e-mails and other documents  Continue Reading

• Chilly charity sleep-out draws record numbers

  More than 240 IT professionals braved a bitter cold snap to sleep out overnight near London's Tower Bridge in Byte Night's bid to raise over £200,000 to help disadvantaged children.  Continue Reading

• Wales gets a taste of BT's network of future

  BT's five-year 21st Century Network project launches in Cardiff: total IT and telecommunications convergence featuring VoIP, wireless broadband in 'super exchanges'  Continue Reading

• Strategy clinic: How can we spread the security message?

  We are keen to develop a 'security culture' among company staff but are not convinced the e-mails we send around are taken notice of.  Continue Reading